


Biochemistry

by Amelia_Clark



Series: 30 Day Cheesy Trope Challenge [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, Lab Partners, M/M, the shreds of freshman bio I remember 20 years later
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-04
Updated: 2014-11-04
Packaged: 2018-02-24 02:38:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2565206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amelia_Clark/pseuds/Amelia_Clark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>First-period bio was looking at animal cells today—epithelial cells, swabbed from the inside of Dean's cheek and smeared on a slide—and Cas had fallen into a reverie as he studied them. Because they were part of Dean, a part of Dean he could stare at freely, that he was <i>supposed</i> to stare at, and it was—well, it was arousing in a really, really embarrassing way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Biochemistry

**Author's Note:**

> So I'd planned to use NaNoWriMo as an incentive to finish a romance novel I started like three years ago...and just could not get excited about it, because all I wanna write is fic. So I'm doing the trope thing instead! I can't promise I'll get it done in 30 days exactly, but I'll do my level best.
> 
> First up: **#25: high school AU**

"Dude, you have to share the microscope," Dean said, jolting Cas back to reality.

"Sorry," he mumbled, sitting up and scooting his chair over so Dean could use the instrument. He hunched over his blobby sketch and tried to concentrate on labeling organelles, but as usual, it proved difficult with Dean next to him.

First-period bio was looking at animal cells today—epithelial cells, swabbed from the inside of Dean's cheek and smeared on a slide—and Cas had fallen into a reverie as he studied them. Because they were part of Dean, a part of Dean he could stare at freely, that he was _supposed_ to stare at, and it was—well, it was arousing in a really, really embarrassing way.

Castiel Novak been stealing glances at Dean Winchester for years now, a hopeless crush he couldn't get rid of. And being lab partners for the past few months had only made it worse, because he was right there, two feet away every morning, greeting Cas with a half-smile and a "Hey" sometimes, other times fast asleep with his head on the table and his eyelashes making little shadows on his face. That's when it was trickiest not to stare, and to be honest he rarely managed it, finding himself coming to in the middle of a lecture he'd spent thinking about Dean's mouth and how he just wanted to, just once, know what it felt like against his. He was actually getting a B in bio, and his parents were furious.

And great, he'd drifted off again, pencil resting useless on the paper while his brain was full of _you just saw inside him, the inside of his mouth, what does it taste like._ Altoids, probably. That's what his breath smelled like, that time Cas leaned over to identify the lungs of the frog they were dissecting and Dean turned so quickly Cas felt his exhale hot on his face.

He mixed up the lungs and the liver on the assignment, and Mr. Carver just wrote a little question mark next to the mistake, as if to say "What is wrong with you, Novak, you're better than this."

Which was why he needed to do better on this cell diagram. He went back over the edges of the membrane while he considered the various sub-blobs he'd drawn inside it. The nucleus was easy, but everything else was just too small. He couldn't tell what any of it was.

"I can't tell what any of this is," groused Dean beside him, and Cas risked a glance. Dean's chair had somehow moved closer, and Dean was looking right at him with a little crease between his eyebrows. "You having any luck?"

"Not really," Cas said. "It’s all your fault, you should have better cells, I guess."

Dean's eyebrows flew up and he laughed. "Sassy, Cas. You should do that more often." At Cas's blank expression, he said "Talk, for one thing. You're so quiet, I feel like I don't know you at all. And I was totally unaware you had any sense of humor."

"I do," Cas stammered, because Dean was still looking at him. He'd never looked away, in fact, and it was making it impossible to think. "I just, uh, I didn't think you wanted to talk to me?"

"Maybe I didn't think you wanted to talk to me," said Dean. His eyes finally shifted, flicking away almost guiltily. "Uh, hey, could you take a look at my diagram? I'm just making shit up, really."

"Sure." Dean pushed his notebook across the table, and Cas's heart leapt into his throat and then seemed to vacate his body entirely. 

Because written there, among Dean's guesses at mitochondria and Golgi bodies and the endoplasmic reticulum, was this sentence: _I wanna kiss Cas so bad right now._

"So," said Dean, too loud, "how does it look?"

Cas met his eyes, and for once he looked his fill. "It looks great, Dean. I think you've got everything right."


End file.
